Pure Sex
Brr. It's 2 degrees in York right now. Using April's Mac while she's off to work. She'll be working for the whole of this week, which leaves me a lot of time to read all those books I've been wanting to during the term, but never got to due to my hectic schedule.SMUCF is having a series of talks on 'Love, Sex and Marriage' when the school term starts. In preparation for that, I've been reading a book by Australian evangelicals Tony Payne & Phillip Jensen entitled 'Pure Sex'. Nothing pornographic about it! It talks about sex the way God meant it to be, and what the Bible has to say about making sense of our sexuality, as well as how we should express and enjoy it.
Here's a short excerpt from the book:
'What do we really want from sex?
It could just be that the answer is nudity.
Is it possible that what we really want from a relationship is not just physical nakedness and pleasure, but of deep personal nakedness as well? A partner before whom we can be totally open; someone who can accept us and love us and desire us as we are; a relationship of honesty and love, where satisfying sex springs not only from a deep acceptance of each other, but an ongoing desire to please the other person. Is not this what we dream of? We long for a situation in which we are completely at one with another person, and where each partner is as much (or more) concerned with the other person's pleasure as their own, where the excitement and pleasure the other person is receiving gives us pleasure as well. Each one serving and pleasuring the other; each one worshipping the other's body. We would want this sort of relationship to go on or a long time, and to grow in intamacy and mutual pleasure, as each learns how to please the other even more.
The strange thing is that the Bible- that black-leather bound book which is usually regarded as anti-sex, or at best barely tolerant of it- espouses just this vision of sexuality. In the ancient texts of Christiantiy, there is a view of sex that is gloriously optimistic and inspiring, and yet at the same time very down-to-earth and realistic. It is a view that has much to attract us, and yet which also may seem strange to us at some points, so different is it from the attitudes and values that dominate our culture.
In this chapter we will try briefly to clear away some of the misconceptions and myths, and outline in basic terms what these biblical writings from two millenia (and more) ago have to say about sex' (Pure Sex, Tony Payne & Phillip D Jensen, Chapter 2, Pg 18)
The book goes on to do just that. Go pick it up if you can folks! 'Pure Sex' by Tony Payne and Phillip D Jensen
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